Archbishop Nichols has been made a cardinal to strengthen his hand in coming struggles with traditionalists & progressives – The Guardian

By Deacon Nick Donnelly, on January 15th, 2014

Andrew Brown, who writes on religion for the staunchly anti-Catholic paper The Guardian, has stated as a cast iron fact that Archbishop Nichols has beem made a cardinal to ‘strengthen his hand in coming struggles with traditionalists & progressives’. Go figure!

‘And then there is the parochial news: Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, has finally got his hat. This is in part a reward for loyalty and competence but it will also strengthen his hand in the coming struggles within the English Catholic church. Nichols has been attacked by a traditionalist minority for his tolerant presentation of church teachings and his lack of enthusiasm for the theatrical approach to liturgy. Like the rest of his clergy, he was not at all keen on the ordinariate, Pope Benedict’s scheme to attract Anglican clergy who wanted to escape from women priests. There is no sign that Francis has any interest in that group at all.

[Protect the Pope comment: Is this the tolerant presentation of church teaching that tells faithful Catholics to 'hold their tongues' while at the same time giving a pastoral mandate to the Soho Masses Pastoral Council? And the tolerant presentation of Church teaching that responds to the suggestions of blessing gay unions with '"I don't know. Who knows what's down the road?"]

But Nichols will soon face a real challenge: the church is consulting its members on what they think of such matters as the ban on birth control and the exclusion of remarried couples from communion. We actually already know what most English Catholics think of these teachings: they think they are nonsense and ignore them. But official questionnaires, such as are going the rounds of English parishes now, make the policy of silent compromise much harder. If the laity find their opinions have been solicited, and then once more ignored, this will weaken the church still more.’

[Protect the Pope comment: And this tolerant presentation of Church teaching has resulted in what according to Andrew Brown? Most English Catholics think the Church's teaching on contraception and the indissolubility of marriage are 'nonsense and ignore them'. How can the Church be weakened anymore if this is true? It shows the complete rejection of the authority of the Church.]

Protect the Pope comment: Here a simple test to ascertain the reliability and accuracy of Andrew Brown’s observations. On the Ordinariate Brown writes ‘There is no sign that Francis has any interest in that group at all.’ You’re wrong Mr Brown. The Catholic Herald reports that in July 2013 Pope Francis widened the remit of the world’s Personal Ordinariates by allowing Catholics who have been baptised but not yet confirmed to become members. Previously, only former Anglicans and their family members could join the ordinariates. The amendment, it said, “confirms the place of the Personal Ordinariates within the mission of the wider Catholic Church, not simply as a jurisdiction for those from the Anglican tradition, but as a contributor to the urgent work of the New Evangelisation”. This relaxation of the rules of admission to the Ordinariate by Pope Francis 3 months after becoming pope makes Andrew Brown’s ‘ There is no sign that Francis has any interest in that group at all’ appear very ill-informed. What else has he got wrong?

11 comments to Archbishop Nichols has been made a cardinal to strengthen his hand in coming struggles with traditionalists & progressives – The Guardian

This is ridiculous. There is no other bishop of stature in GB to be named a cardinal at this time. Peter Smith would be the only one, but that would change the focus of the Church from Westminster to Southwark. And, of course, historically that will not happen, although some of us would love to see the center of the Church in Canterbury but that is fantastical thinking.

Real politics in the Church indicates that there must be a cardinal in GB. Actually, I blame the laity for the weakness of any Church leaders. Weak Catholic families do not produce strong vocations. Sorry, but we laity have leaders we deserve from years of being too secular, too heretical, too worldly.

Pray for Cardinal Nichols. God gives grace and more prayer, even fasting, would have effects, rather than always throwing stones.

Reading The Guardian for coverage of the Catholic Church is rather like reading the Morning Star for sympathetic coverage of the finance sector, the Daily Telegraph for balanced coverage of the Labour Party or the Daily Mail for objective coverage of refugee and asylum issues. Brown dishes up another piece of third-rate fantasy masquerading as journalism.

Incidentally the Vatican News Service has issued a notice: ‘False statements attributed to Pope Francis’.

The Guardian articles on the Catholic church describe an institution I have never heard of.Most of them are pretty loopy-but the comment columns underneath at times display a truly , truly visceral hatred.

Yes indeed-no coincidence….but when Labour lost the election the Scott Trust-the Guardian’s parent charity -and a PLC since 2008 …with offshore tax status(quintessentially socialist , naturally)….suffered a big hit when the main title lost tons of income from Local Authority/QUANGOs because the Coalition government decided to use other outlets.

I download it every day …jaw drops at the lies and half-truths it dispenses.
Oh well….

Ah it is a teaching of the Church that the Church is an institution created by Christ on earth for the salvation of men and women. The Church has never abrogated this term in ecclesiology. In Models of the Church by Avery Dulles, he gives an overview of the five main models of church: church as (1) institution, (2) mystical communion, (3) sacrament, (4) herald, and (5) servant.

If a Catholic has not heard this teaching, he or she have not got the real deal.

Nichols is a master of lip service and deception to please his greediness – that’s how he became Cardinal.
If Benedict would be still in the See, Vincent Nichols would be polishing door knobs today and I would have co signed his new contract at national minimum wage.